Both the +1 and the +2 are great and give you options in different directions. The -4 is possibly the strongest ability of them all, and the ultimate gives you an inevitability that forces your opponents to play different from how they otherwise would.

Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh is kind of a cross between Karn Liberated and Garruk, Apex Predator, with a little Sorin Markov thrown in for good measure. He's also a first-week champion in the hands of Michael Hamilton, splashing Bolas in his Jeskai Control deck:

Sideboard

Hamilton's list is Jeskai nearly all the way down, with only a single Fetid Pools betraying his Aether Hub's true intentions long-term. It also makes use of a couple of cards from Hour of Devastationthat will surely be among the most ubiquitous.

Supreme Will has delivered as promised and is particularly useful in three-color decks, where needing only a single blue is meaningful advantage. The other important part of the recipe is having powerful situational cards to dig to. The miser's Nicol Bolas obviously counts, but Hamilton has lots of powerful winners to find in the right spots.

As we'll see today, more than a few players got an advantage by increasing their use of four-toughness threats, capitalizing on the popularity of Abrade. Even Hamilton's nearly creatureless deck gets in on the action with a return to the Glorybringer sideboard.

Jace's Defeat is in the interesting space of being very desirable, but also somewhat less novel than many options. Dispel costs just one, for instance, and Summary Dismissal can stop Ulamog and his trigger. Jace's Defeat is kind of a Negate that can also counter Torrential Gearhulk, Spell Queller, and Rogue Refiner, among others. Great card; it's just a question of how many slots we are willing to spend for each problem.

Fumigate versus Hour of Devastation is an excellent question. Both are excellent cards and have their merits, but given how many more decks can play Hour of Devastation,it's interesting to consider if Hamilton's Fumigates benefited from a format prepared the other way. That said, I think I might be worried that two Cast Outs and a Nicol Bolas isn't quite as much planeswalker defense as I'd like.

Nicol Bolas may be the most exciting reason to play Grixis, but it is Hour of Devastation that most makes us not miss white. Getting to play such a big sweeper without needing white is a revolutionary change to the rules of engagement. For instance, take Jungje Choi's Grixis Control list:

Between Crook of Condemnation and Scavenger Grounds, the format has become much more hostile for graveyard-based strategies. Delirium and Zombies are the two that took the biggest hit, but even Torrential Gearhulk takes some collateral damage. Lots of people were registering less than four Gearhulks in their U/X decks, and this might have been a part of the equation. For instance, Devin Beeghly's Grixis list replaces two of the Torrential Gearhulks with a second Nicol Bolas and one copy of The Scarab God.

The Scarab God is a lot like an easier to cast Weatherseed Treefolk with a better body and a much, much better ability. Being able to pay four to make a 4/4 with upside has a profound impact on the game, and The Scarab God dying to your hand gives us a lot of inevitability. When the game goes long, The Scarab God is just absolutely devastating.

I'm not sure how I feel about Doomfall as a sideboard card yet, but it's at least fine. I'm a little concerned about the mana efficiency compared to other options, but I like the versatility over something narrower like Transgress the Mind, Lay Bare the Heart, or Dispossess.

In some ways, it's kind of a Pick the Brain that can be use creature removal, a sort of hedge, though ever Doomfall you play generally could have been a Pick the Brain if you really wanted.

John Pellman actually ended up going with a 3/1 split between Pick the Brain and Doomfall in the sideboard of the Sultai Delirium deck he cashed with this past weekend. Of course, he's also got a couple copies of Lay Bare the Heart, not to mention Never // Return to help amplify his creature-defense in the maindeck.

Sideboard

There are two big new additions here, the first of which is the aforementioned The Scarab God. In some ways, The Scarab God is kind of your one Emrakul, giving you a creature to Traverse to later in the game that just completely takes over. When you play The Scarab God on nine mana and then immediately make a Zombie Ishkanah, Grafwidow, you are really, really doing it.

It might seem strange, splashing blue for a single The Scarab God; however, I'm a big fan of this plan. We're not exactly tanking the manabase, and the end-game is just so good.

The other new addition has looked very promising so far, but I guess I'm still skeptical of it long-term.

Ammit Eternal is made to be used in removal-heavy decks such as this, where it's kind of just a better Phyrexian Negator with a much smaller drawback...

Sideboard

With a playset of Servant of the Conduit, Oath of Nissa, and Aether Hub, Stevens doesn't even have to make any concessions to his manabase to support Bolas better than most.

While Nicol Bolas's +2 and +1 abilities are great everywhere, this is a list that really pushes the -4 ability a lot harder. Getting to drop Bolas and dome your opponent for seven is brutal, and even if that doesn't kill them, you've still got Bolas!

The highest finishing Temur Energy player was Jason Morgan, reaching the Top 8 with another innovative addition from Hour of Devastation.

Sideboard

Like Bolas, Champion of Wits is also wasting no time getting some Top 8s under its belt. Here, it's like Rogue Refiners five and six, and while it's a little smaller up front, the eternalize ability is kind of Opportunity.

For just a mana more, we're drawing four cards, and while we then have to discard two, remember, it's like this is a cantrip anyway (we already got the front side), plus we've got a zero-mana 4/4 (which is an excellent card). Besides, if we're feeling really frisky, we might even Rhonas the Indomitable on the Champion of Wits with the trigger on the stack, drawing two extra cards!

This is just the tip of the iceberg for what can be done with Champion of Wits. For instance, Zan Syed really pushes the Champion hard in his Four-Color Emerge deck, taking advantage of every part of the card.

Once we've got the Champion of Wits on the battlefield, it's a perfect choice to sacrifice to Elder Deep-Fiend. Being a three-drop curves perfectly into the turn 4 Deep-Fiend, but it's also a great creature to get into the graveyard for the spots where we've got enough mana to eternalize it!

The split between Strategic Planning and Grapple with the Past mainly about keeping a better split between sorceries and instants for the purposes of getting delirium active. I think Grapple is a slightly stronger card in the abstract, but a mix seems reasonable if it means powering up the rest of our stuff.

Spells (6)

Sideboard

The cool new tech here is Dreamstealer, working as an early disruptive threat that can also create a must-kill threat if the game stretches out.

I gotta admit, the prospect of dropping Nissa and giving the Dreamstealer +1/+1 is enough to make me curious. That said, I'm a little more into Driven // Despair, since it does its thing with "virtual haste."

While it's not a given that we'll have two creatures that can get through unimpeded, the ability to play both halves on turn 4 and basically Probe with kicker our opponent is too good to not try. Besides, giving our creatures both trample and menace is makes them a lot harder to stop.

They don't make 'em like that anymore…

Even when we're breaking it up, it's not hard to cantrip off the front side and then have the implied threat of Despair forcing them to alter their plays moving forward. It's also kind of sweet to randomly flip a Despair when using a Liliana, the Last Hope activation or some other self-mill card.

Here's Cameron Tousi's take on G/B Energy, making good use of Driven // Despair:

Spells (12)

Sideboard

The last couple of decks I'd like to take a look at today are a couple of red aggro decks with some exciting new Hour of Devastationtechnology. Up first, Billy Klopf's U/R Prowess list from this weekend's SCG Standard Classic.

Speaking of Eldrazi, there's a new breed of Eldrazi Aggro on the map. Jonathan Job piloted this groundbreaking new style to a Top 8 finish, combining elements of classic Eldrazi aggro decks with Red Deck Wins. However, unlike most red decks, the burn here is all about bridging to three, four, and five-mana creatures (as there is a real shortage of good two-drops in red right now).

About Patrick Chapin

Patrick Chapin, "The Innovator," is a member of the Hall of Fame class of 2012. The Pro Tour Journey into Nyx Champion and five-time Pro Tour Top 8 competitor is a renowned deckbuilder and author of both Next Level Magic and Next Level Deckbuilding.